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| View from the top of Sao Jorge |
Velas on Sao Jorge - July 26 - 27, 2012
Our visit to Sao Jorge started off following the pattern set
on other Azorean islands. First drop anchor in the harbor at the town of Velas,
and run in on the dink to walk the dogs and check out the marina and town. The
next day move into the marina, hose the salt off Starlet, and nose around town
visiting shops to replenish perishables.  |
| Olympic Venue |
One priority in Velas was to find a café with TV for Friday
night’s Olympic opening ceremony. Watching the ceremony over dinner, we
realized that this was the first time we had seen TV since leaving Bermuda six
weeks prior. The US TV’s on Starlet won’t receive over the air broadcasts in
Europe, so we’ve made the transition to getting our news on the web. We still
can't get over the low prices here. Our
dinners with a bottle of wine, beer, 2 hot teas and ice cream was about $30
including the three hours of TV. No tax/no tip!
Tour guides - Carolina & Rui - July 28, 2012
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| Carolina & Rui |
In the marina, we continued the constant process of
maintaining Starlet, cleaning and waxing the exterior stainless steel. With a
good internet connection, we got caught up on correspondence and were even able
to stream some of the Olympics live! Late Saturday (after 10:30 – Mark was
snoozing!) after Skyping with friends, Jennifer met a young local couple
walking the marina docks. They wanted to meet the dogs, then spent a good hour
chatting. Carolina was eager to refresh her English, having lived in Rhode
Island for 12 years. Rui, her boyfriend,
understood most of the conversation but felt more comfortable using Carolina as
a translator. This chance meeting set our visit to Sao Jorge apart from the
norm: lucky for us Carolina & Rui took it upon themselves to show us their island
and their Azorean lifestyle.
Limpets & Festival - July 29, 2012
The following evening, Carolina & Rui came by to make traditional
Azorean limpets for us. This is a shell
fish that grows on rocks, kind of like a miniature abalone. They brought the
limpets plus fresh garlic cloves, butter and a red pepper sauce. Rui, who is attending culinary school, cooked
two plates of them for us, then we went to the dock to pry off a couple more to
try raw. Limpets are quite salty and chewy, but very good with the sauce,
garlic and butter. It's Sunday night and way past our bedtime at 11:00 PM, but
we headed out to a festival in Carolina & Rui’s village of Beria. This was
a gathering of all ages with kids playing on swing sets and teeter totters, teenagers
checking each other out, and adults chatting. Bright lights strung around the schoolyard,
a band playing, vendors selling food and beer. We met Rui's Mother and Father
at the festival, then dropped by Carolina's home (after midnight!) to meet her
parents and pets.
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| Garden |
The next day Carolina & Rui picked us up early to take
us on a tour of the east end of the Sao Jorge.
From a high vantage point on the central ridge we could see Faial, Pico
and Graciosa. We visited the Parquet Florestal das Sete Fontes (Seven Ponds
Park) with a mini zoo that had deer, birds, ducks and a pair of Vietnamese
potbellied pigs. Midday we were invited
to Rui's parents house for a heavy lunch.
The main house has four bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen and dining room over
2 levels while across the drive they have a small "day house" with a
kitchen and dining room plus a sofa and a TV. The houses overlook a huge
vegetable garden, with a chicken house and a hog pen behind the garage.
After an afternoon break on Starlet, Carolina & Rui
picked us up that evening to take us to another celebration for the festival. A
stage was set up in a parking lot by a dairy field, featuring singers
improvising “cantares ao desafio” ballads of social critique. Horse rides for
the kids, cotton candy and popcorn. The ever popular beer tent also offered
grilled sausages and roast rabbit. As a
fundraiser, you can buy a bag with dozens of rolled up squares of paper. Everyone works at unrolling them, searching
for the lucky squares marked with numbers. Then it’s time to collect the prizes
associated with the lucky numbers. Our group ended up with thirteen treasures
ranging from perfume to needle work and dishes.
Cheese Factory & Bull on a Rope - July 31, 2012
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| Haircut |
The next day Jennifer visited a hair salon on the main
street in Velas. The owner didn't speak
English but they went next door for a translator. Jennifer was very pleased with the
results. The price . . . 15 Euros.
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| Unloading milk |
Carolina & Rui picked up us early that afternoon to take
us to the cooperative cheese factory in Beira for a tour. It was a large operation with 80 employees in
a modern facility, one of 3 cooperatives on the island. Each cooperative provides the economic base
for its village, providing jobs and export income. The member dairy farmers need
to deliver their milk twice daily, 365 days a year! At the end of the tour we
bought some of the cheese made by each cooperative for a very good price. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take
pictures of the factory interior.
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| Barricades |
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| Doughnuts |
Later we went back to Rui's house to get ready for the Tourada
a Corda (Bull on a Rope), to be held in Beira that evening. Rui’s mother was very busy as a volunteer making
150 donuts for the event. After forming blobs of dough into rings, they are
fried, six at a time. Dipped in sugar
and cooled, they were boxed for delivery to the event bar. Just before the Tourada a Corda was to start we walked the main street in Beira inspecting the
barricades being installed to protect people & property.
Professional wranglers were contracted to bring in four
bulls that ran the street one at a time for thirty minutes each. Very “brave”
men, encouraged by beer, dared to get close but hopefully not too close to the
bull. The bulls know their role: chase anyone they have a chance to catch! If
that means jumping over a wall to chase someone through a field, so much the
better! Thankfully no one was hurt and especially the bulls were not hurt. It really was a lot more fun than
anticipated. After the Tourada a Corda
we walked back to Rui's house for a lovely dinner with soup, a variety of baked
meats plus a rice pudding dessert. 
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| Bulls can go everywhere |
Back at the marina, we said good bye to Carolina & Rui. Besides providing us with this unique look at Azorean life, they sent us off with a huge basket of potatoes and fresh eggs. The whole time they wouldn’t allow us to even put fuel in the car, and we had to fight to pay for a beer or coffee!
On to Terceira - August 1, 2012
Before leaving the next morning, we had a quick catch up
session with Bob and Janice from Tsamaya, a couple we had previously met in both
Flores and Horta. We then set off on a
calm 52 nm run to Angra do Heroismo on the next Azore Island, Terceira. On the way we passed by southeast Sao Jorge -
the high central ridge and the prevailing winds create a very isolated and lush
area.
View Starlet in the Azores in a larger map
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